Ajay Balamurugadas on behalf of Weekend Testing Team Weekend Testing Skilled Software Testing Unleashed

My sincere thanks to… Amit Kulkarni Anna Baik Geir Gulbrandsen Lisa Crispin Markus Gärtner Matthew Heusser Michael Bolton Richard Hill Rosie Sherry Sumit Kalra Tiffany Fodor Tony Bruce 2

Agenda Brief Introduction How do we conduct sessions Journey so far Chapter Initiators Challenges faced Benefits to community Achievements Future Plans 3

Brief Introduction What is Weekend Testing? An initiative started by four passionate software testers to improve their testing skills by practicing software testing. Why Weekends First Session A group with a difference Cost vs. Value 4

Mission and Vision What is your Mission statement? A platform for software testers to collaborate, test various kinds of software, foster hope, gain peer recognition, and be of value to the community. What is your Vision statement? To find people with similar synergy – towards testing software and learning from it and improve the craft of software testing. 5

How Do We Conduct Sessions Registration: s, Events added in Forums. Announcements on Website, Twitter, Blogs, SMS. Facilitation: Skype Group chat, Give mission, Set time limit. Provide adequate information. Testing Session: Make sure testers do not divert from mission. Time boxed session. Discussion Session: Encourage questions, clear assumptions, de-brief. 6

7 Products Tested

Journey So Far (Part 1) More than 100 sessions. Over 1000 members. Chapters in Asia, Europe, Australia. Skills focused: Observation, Note Taking, Learning, Clearing Traps, Questioning, Bug Hunting, Bug Investigation, Modeling, Automation, Bug Advocacy, Presentation, Group Discussion, Collaboration. 8

Journey So Far (Part 2) Over 10 Guest Facilitators. New repository of bugs and tester reports. Variety of products tested. Experience sharing, new test ideas. Fun weekends, New bloggers. 9

Guest Facilitators Anne-Marie Charrett Dr. Cem Kaner Eusebiu Blindu James Bach Jon Bach Matthew Heusser Dr. Meeta Prakash Michael Bolton Pradeep Soundararajan 10

Chapter Initiators Chennai: Bharath S Europe: Anna Baik & Markus Gärtner Hyderabad: Sireesha Kolluri Mumbai: Amit Kulkarni & Shaham Yusuf Delhi: Mohit Verma & Shoryaa Bhatnagar Australia & New Zealand: Marlena Compton & Oliver Erlewein 11

Challenges Faced Poor response from testers during long weekends. Testers abandon tough testing sessions. Time zone difference. Busy schedule. Bugs in software. Power cuts. World Cups 12

Experiences 13

Benefits To Software Community Tester community More testers’ interactions, Tester clubs, Practice and self- critique, independent and community based skill development Programmer community Testers’ opinion, better open source software Software community Better testers, better software, happy customers 14

Achievements (Part 1) Testimonials from programmers. s and Comments from Testers I have improved a lot in my assignments at office after taking this session. Thanks everyone for making this activity a success. –Rajesh N Iyer ‘Better Software Magazine’ and ‘The Testing Planet’ Nov 2009 STC Conference, Bangalore. Nov 2010 EuroSTAR Conference, Copenhagen. 15

Achievements (Part 2) Future of Skilled Testing – Michael Bolton It’s a sapient testing insurgency! – James Bach I liked this a lot, as normally I work alone, so I guess this is the closest I get to working in a team environment. – Anne-Marie Charrett 16

What have we learnt Fail faster and safer Appreciate diversity Uncover hidden talent Aware of traps Varied experience Contribute to open source Build unity in our field 17

Want to Initiate a Chapter? Traps Members Assistance Guidelines Access to website Finally, facilitation is also a skill 18

Want Beta Testers Testers Mission Test Reports Weekend Testing A new perspective 19

Future Plans 20

The Initiators Parimala Shankaraiah Author of Curious Tester blog. Sharath Byregowda Author of Test to Tester blog Ajay Balamurugadas Author of Enjoy Testing blog Manoj M V Author of Testing Redefined blog Santhosh Tuppad Author of Tuppad.com blog 21

Thank You Weekend Testers: 22 Testers, Programmers, Organizations: Contact us: